Copper Penny Question

I save them, but I don't have gobs of them. If I need to spend them in the future, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. If your serious about hoarding them for their copper value, you'd be better off collecting scrap copper pipe and wire.

 

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I go through 25 bucks worth of pennies a week. I'd say that, on average, about 30 - 35% are pre-1982. I've got about half a five gallon bucket's worth right now.

I think its easier to hoard nickels. Just buy a box and put them away...no sorting. Its not as fun, though. I like knowing that there could be a hundred year old treasure in the next roll.

 

Pre-1982 cents do not have to be refined. The composition is manufactured to such strict tolerance that cents can be added to the melting pot as is for production of any copper alloy also containing zinc.

 

While I am sure that is true, where does one go about collecting that copper ? And how do I spend that scrap copper ? Nope, I will stick to the Cents. Get them at the bank, they have a well known value, and I can cash in if I need to. The worst case scenerio is that I lose the 1.2% interest that I would get on having the same money in a savings account. My grocery wont take scrap copper, but they will accept pennies. And if there is a huge melt, the rarity factor rises a bit. Every year there become a few new Cent collectors.

Just a thought.

 

Copper scrap can be sold at any scrap metal yard around. Copper cents can't be scrapped. I save mine for the same reason you do. If I'm broke and need some gas money, my pennies are going bye-bye, just like my two dollar bills and presidential dollars.

If you're hoarding strictly for the rarity factor in the future, OK. But if you're hoarding them strictly for their copper content and hoping one day they might legalize the melting of copper cents, you'd be better off collecting scrap copper.

 

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]$0.0194123[/FONT] is the melt value for the 1909-1982 copper cent on May 19, 2010.
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TO derive the profit, you must add in the intangibles. I assume from your statement, you must live within a few miles of the border or gas money would eat up any profits. Last night it took 30 minutes nominal to get into Mexico, and 2 hrs to get out, so there is 2 1/2 hrs of your time to charge off. If there were even just 2 people going across, 10,000 cents weigh about 70 lbs, so the Mexico border patrol/military finds 140 lbs of cents in your car. You claim you have the right to bring into Mexico for refining. If you are Mexican citizenship, you probably will make it through, otherwise you will probably have a heck of a good time talking to them and a lot of fun. They have a right to collect duty if you have no Mexico import license. I really don't think you can make a profit if you consider all.

 

U have never heard of any country charging an import duty for coin or currency. That would certainly change world trade agreements with any nation that would do that. Of course, I would never say the coins were anything but beer money saved for the trip. But the point of hoarding coinage is just that the metal value becomes greater than the redemption value of them. Gold, Silver and now Copper. All I can say is that after this thread started, I became firmly convinced to save every pre 1982 Cent I can. Zero loss, nearly double value with increased marketability. In business that is called a win=win.

 

I think I would tell them it was beer money that we had saved for the trip. Everyone gets a good laugh and we dump a truckful of cents at a smelter.

Seriously, I would not be shocked to see that every border town has a dearth of pre 1982 Cents. If you only made say $40 a day tax free, for walking $100 worth of Cents across, it would be a lot easier and more profitable than a lot of things, especially in the current economic times. I mean that I see day laborers hanging out hoping for something that may not happen. If there were a few bucks to be made swapping Cents, why not ?

Just a thought on it.

 

i always keep pennys no matter what date so i hord all pennys